German Stock Funds Prove Popular; Gold ETF Leads In Weekly Inflows

By Murray Coleman

As noted earlier, German bonds are so popular now that 10-year real yields are essentially zero. Apparently, the sovereign debt crisis is also spilling over to equities.

German stock funds, both of the mutual fund and ETF variety, attracted more than $3 billion last week, says EPFR Global. While not naming specific funds, an analyst told me today at the Boston-based research shop that it would be a fair assumption that “the usual suspects” have been garnering a bulk of the activity. The most popular ETF in the category is the iShares MSCI Germany Index Fund (EWG).

EPFR tracks money flows across the U.S., Europe and Asia by institutional as well as retail fund investors.

Separately, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney estimates that the following were U.S. inflow ETF leaders last week:

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Chris Dieterich has covered the U.S. stock market for The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. He is a graduate of Regis University and the Missouri School of Journalism.